Representations of categories of \(G\)-maps (Q1741615)

Let $\mathbf{FI}$ and $\mathbf{FS}$ denote the categories of finite sets and injective maps, and finite sets and surjective maps, respectively. Let $\mathbf{FB}$ be the groupoid of finite sets. In the present article, the authors study generalisations $\mathbf{FI}_G$ and $\mathbf{FS}_G$ of these categories by adding a group $G$, and a morphism $(f,\rho):R\to S$ are pairs of functions $f:R\to S$ and $\rho:R\to G$. It is known that $\mathbf{FI}$ is noetherian (i.e. every object in the category is noetherian), and the first main result in the article shows that the category of representations of $\mathbf{FI}_G$ is noetherian if and only if the group algebra $k[G^n]$ is left-noetherian for all $n\geq0$. As a corollary, this holds in particular if $G$ is polycyclic-by-finite and $\mathbf k$ left-noetherian. \par If $G$ is a finite group, then the authors obtain stronger results; in particular, they show that if $\mathbf k$ is a splitting field for $G$, such that $|G|$ is invertible, then representations of $\mathbf{FI}_G$ are equivalent to representations of $\mathbf{FI}_G\times\mathbf{FB}^r$, where $r$ is the number of non-trivial irreducible representations of $G$ over $\mathbf k$. \par The authors then prove that $\mathbf{FS}_G$ is quasi-Gröbner for a finite group $G$, and so the $\mathbf k$-representations of $\mathbf{FS}_G$ form a noetherian category if $\mathbf k$ is left noetherian. \par The following section introduces a power series associated to any $\mathbf{FS}_G^{op}$-module over $\mathbf k$ for a finite group $G$ that they call the Hilbert series. Their main result states that, for a finitely generated $\mathbf{FS}_G^{op}$-module $M$ over $\mathbf k$, such series can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with coefficients in $\mathbb Q(\zeta_N)$, where $N$ is the exponent of $G$. In their investigations, the authors introduce a class of formal languages, called quasi-ordered languages, and prove results about their Hilbert series. \par The authors also present a list of motivations for their study, and a list of open problems.